Less than 2 out of 10 K-Staters smoke cigarettes.

"I...smoke"

Most
college students DON'T smoke. Some college students
are addicted to nicotine and smoke on a regular basis.
Most of these wish they had never started.

There's
another group who don't consider themselves smokers
but do smoke "socially." If you are in this group, there
are a few things you should know.

How "occasionally"
is your "occasionally?" It might be more than you think.
Even if you smoke socially, you are doing damage to
your heart and lungs, not to mention the smell of smoke
on your clothes, hair and breath.

An occasional
smoker using a half pack when out drinking experiences
100 'hits' and chemical 'pairings' of alcohol and tobacco
in one evening. That's 800 chemical pairings a month.
Your brain gets used to this association and cries out
in displeasure when the pattern is disrupted. It gets
harder to do one activity without the other.

Estimates
indicate that among occasional cigarette users about
50% will go on to smoke full-time for an average of
6-10 years.

According to new research, there is
a synergistic effect with tobacco and other mood altering
substances. For whatever reason, biologic or sociological,
smokers are more likely to use other substances.

If you are a "social smoker," take an honest look at
your behavior. Stop smoking now.

Join the healthy
majority who choose not to smoke before you join the
group of "everyday" smokers who wish they never started.

Men - impotence in later years -
the number one reason in men aged 40 and over

Women
- risk for blood clots and stroke/heart attack if using
birth control pills and over 35 years old

Low-weight
babies or increased risk for miscarriage

Smokeless
users - tooth loss, gum disease, cancer of mouth and
larynx

Compiled from these
sources: American Lung Association, Quit-smoking.com,
Quitnet.com

In addition to nicotine, more than 4000
chemicals have been identified in tobacco products,
including tar, carbon monoxide, arsenic, formaldehyde
and ammonia. Common household uses for some of these
chemicals include nail polish remover, toilet cleaner,
cigarette lighter fluid, insecticides and rat poison.
Not so common uses include gas chamber poison, swamp
gas and rocket fuel.